tonight." battleground america. the final two days before the election. election. that's it. >> total, total devastation. >> our hearts go out to the families who have lost loved ones. >> we come together in times of trial and this is one of those times. >> i cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern. >> make no mistake about it, this was a devastating storm. >> we are going to die. you don't understand. you've got to get your trucks here on this corner. >> the question of this election comes down it this. do you want more of the same or do you want real change? >> did you hear him? he says i'm the kcandidate of change. when you look at the policies, they're the same ones that didn't work. >> ohio, you'll probably decide

the president of the united states. >> everyone is paying a lot of attention to ohio. >> they sure are. saturday, november 3rd. i'm randi kaye. >> i'm victor blackwell. thanks for starting your morning with us. the emphasis on the election took a back seat brought on by superstorm sandy. both candidates put the talking points in their back pocket. but now with just three days left, the candidates are back on the trail with the talking points at the ready. we also have our correspondents spread out throughout the battleground states to bring you more on the election and the final push for both candidates. let's step away from the map and let's get to the message for a moment. paul steinhauser is live in harrisburg, pennsylvania. paul, really a flurry of activity and travel for president obama and governor romney. what is their message for these final three days? >> victor, it's interesting,

both of them have the same message. change. they're saying it in different ways. you're hearing a lot about change as they crisscross the campaign trail in the final days. both were talking about the message yesterday, last night in ohio. take a listen. >> the president says that, you know, it has to be this way. i say it has to change. he says, he's got excuses for us. i say, in fact, no, i have a plan for us. >> he says that we need to settle for where we are with this high unemployment and low wage growth. i say this, americans don't settle. >> now, governor romney is a very talented salesman. and in this campaign he tried as hard as he can to repackage these bad ideas and offer them up as change. he says something, now suddenly he's the candidate of change. but, we know what change looks like.

and what he's trying to sell, that's not it. >> you're going to hear a lot more of that between now and tuesday, election day, of course. as both candidates reach out to that very small sliver of uncommitted voters and as they try to reach out to their own supporters to make sure they get to the voting stations. victor? >> the mantra of real estate is location, location, location. works for politics, too. how is that playing out with the campaigns? >> oh, yeah, it is so important right now. you know, we have about eight battleground states and we consider cnn on the map. this is where the candidates were in their final four days. yesterday through tuesday. let's start with president obama. where he goes is where he thinks he can win. ohio, ohio, ohio. the president was there yesterday and back there today and monday. two stops in iowa. very important state. he'll end his campaign monday night in iowa, of course, that

was the state that gave him his first victory back in the iowa caucuses back in 2008. mitt romney, ohio is so important for him, as well. no republican has won the white house without winning ohio in modern times. pennsylvania where i am, mitt rom economy coming here tomorrow where i am and paul ryan coming here today. that's why we're here. listen, mitt romney thinks they can grab pennsylvania away from the democrat, a state the republicans haven't won since 9 1988. >> paul, thanks. randi. new numbers on where things stand in florida. take a look here. this nbc news/"wall street journal/"marist poll. florida is the biggest of all the expected swing state with 29 electoral votes. on the campaign trail in ohio former new york mayor rudy giuliani offered a scathing critique of the president and said president obama should

resign. it happened at a rally for mitt romney yesterday. mr. giuliani slammed the administration on a lot of topics. benghazi, others. >> they're real excited today because unemployment didn't go back to 8%. ility 7.9%. they should be ashamed of themselves. the greatest country on earth, the greatest country in the history of the world and our growth is at 1.2%. he should resign! >> the founder and ceo of news corp rupert murdoch is also sounding off on the election via twitter. he blasted chris christie for praising president obama as the two leaders towards the storm damaged state this week. christie, while thanking obama must redeclare for romney or take blame for the next four dire years.

anderson cooper looking where they focus their attention or whether the battleground state hold any surprises. countdown to election day, that airs tomorrow night at 8:00 eastern. and now to the latest on superstorm sandy. after much criticism, new york mayor michael bloomberg canceled the new york city marathon for the first time in its 42-year history. it was set to take place, as you know, tomorrow. bloomberg insisted the race would not have required dive diverting resources from the recovery effort, but it was clear that the marathon was controversial and divisive. >> the race typically attracts 47,000 runners from all over the world and 12,000 volunteers and more than 2 million spectators. critics say it just wasn't right to use generators for the marathon when some people had not had food and power for days. the lights are starting to come on for families in the

northeast, but not fast enough for others. five days after the storm, more than 2.5 million customers are without power across 15 states and d.c. it could be at least another week before power is fully restored and the cold weather is not helping matters. national guard troops are helping to clear debris so crews can get back to putting that power back on. they're also helping in the search for survivors and delivering food to those in need. 7,400 army and air national guard soldiers and airmen from nine states have responded to this storm. >> i was in the new york area covering the storm this week for anderson cooper's show and it was, it was something to see up close and personal there. of course, it is far from over, sadly, for the millions affected by it. but along the new jersey coast, actually, there is a ticking time bomb. what they still have to fear in that area.ss. seems they haven't been moving much lately. but things are starting to turn around

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106 death in the u.s. new york state was hit with the worst with 48 of those deaths and 22 people died in new jersey. overall, the storm has killed 175 people when you include the number from canada and the caribbean. the superstorm left entire communities devastated and homes broken in half or completely washed away. i had the chance to see some of it first-hand this week. i saw heartbreaking damage and found a danger still lurking. for days, this part of the new jersey coast has been a ticking time bomb. natural gas lines have been spewing gas. we took a boat ride to see the threat for ourselves. the damage trully unimaginable. we came out here in search of the natural gas leaks, but you can see there is plenty of damage here, as well. just take a look at this house here in the distance, this is in

the town of manalokin completely broken in half. swing over here, this house used to be over there on land and now it's sitting in the middle of the water. people up and down the coast have been anxiously waiting, wupdering if their neighborhood might explode. here we came across another house, you see it there behind me, it is split in two. you can smell the gas in the air. it was getting stronger and stronger as we get closer to it. the gas company has responded to 1,300 gas leaks and they have cleared all of them but you can still smell it in the air. rob checked on his house and snapped this photo of a gas crew

working to fix the leaks. williams said the gas crews were overwhelmed. the gas company says they didn't even know how bad the problem was because they could only survey the damage by air. once they were able to get closer in a boat like we are today, they were able to see just how dangerous it was. they, too, smelled the gas and they, too, realized they had a real problem on their hands. the gas leaks forced the mayor of to shut the town down today. purging the gas lines from pt pleasant beach to seaside park, as well as long beach island. turning it all off may make it safer for 28,000 customers, but they are sure to be without natural gas for some time. >> good news, victor, they did get all the natural gas off. the company did confirm that for me, but the problem is they were trying to save the system, they

didn't want to have to rebuild it. in getting all the gas out of the system they flood it with water which destroys the pipes and it will cost millions to try to rebuild entire systems. >> very expensive cleanup. i was fully prepared to see water inside homes, i was not prepared to see homes in the water. you're on a boat, did you hit anything there? >> actually, we were the eyes for our boat, the droirve iver boat because he said, i need your help because there is so much stuff in the water. believe it or not, we drove over a home in the water. you could see it on his radar. we drove over a home. >> that was unbelievable. >> they have sunk to the bottom. >> imagine coming back and find out your home is not here, it is down there somewhere. >> that's the situation for at least one homeowner. it was pretty shocking. but our miguel marquez heads to vegas after the break for a deep dive into one key factor in tuesday's election.

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snchlth welcome back. 18 minutes past the hour now.

we are three days away from election day. hard to believe. it's coming up pretty fast. millions already voted but many more lining up on tuesday to make their choices. >> these last two days will be wild for both campaigns. let's take a moment to break down the numbers and show you just how wild. we'll start with eight. the number of states that governor romney and president obama will stop in over the next three days. that's not counting the surrogates. >> when you throw in the surrogates, we turn the knob to 11. here's a favorite of mine, number three. that's how many obama events bruce springsteen, the boss, is playing on the final day of the campaign. sky high unemployment, falling home prices, widespread foreclosures. nevada was dealt a pretty bad hand when it comes to the economy, but the state and its six electoral votes is still one of the most important battlegrounds in tuesday's election. the result could hinge on whether voters are betting on a

strong, economic recovery. our miguel marquez headed to las vegas for a unique perspective on the nevada vote. >> here we are top of the strat stratusphere. as this county goes -- oh! in a city that fell harder and faster than just about any place in the country. this better be a very close election. the stratusphere hit hard. >> reporter: the vegas landmark sunk $20 million into a new rest raubt raunt and the sky jump thing and, most importantly, 100 new jobs. >> do ai think las vegas is

through the worst of it? >> i drive to work and see things going on that i haven't seen for a little while. >> reporter: things like construction and homes being built in the place that once had the nation's highest foreclosure rate. >> there you go, yeah. >> reporter: chef rick gifens charts the decline and rise by a sort of entree index. at the low point of the recession how many dinners were you doing and what are you doing now? >> we were doing between 200 and now 400 and 7700 a night. big recovery. >> this is an important state, clark county especially. >> reporter: louis anderson who does four shows a week at the palace station. >> how do you spell ron paul. >> reporter: says the city is struggling back, but knows how hard the country is torn. >> hard to be excited about obama if you have not worked. i love obama. i understand the appeal of romney in this situation. >> reporter: like voters

everywhere, he is tired of the campaign. >> obama has been here more than celine dion has. if we are going to have the great country we had once, this is not a democrat or a republican thing. this is going to be an every single american thing. >> very funny guy but also very serious in that moment. recovery here across nevada is spotty at best. the best number, though, we have heard while here is that the price of houses has gone up by 1% in the last month. it's the first time that number has risen since 2007. miguel marquez, cnn, las vegas. we'll know after tuesday whether nevada's tough economy becomes a factor in the presidential race. victor? just as nail biting as the presidential election, the balance of power of congress is also one to watch this election season, specifically the senate. right now democrats hold the majority in the senate. but they don't hold it by much.

51 seats to 47 seats for republicans. there are two independents who usually with the democrats. this election 33 seats up for grabs and the democrats are fighting to keep most of them. now, this morning, a look at e the, some of the closely contested races that could tip the scale either way. okay, let's go to, first, massachusetts. with a hotly contested race between republican scott brown and his democratic challenger elizabeth warner. the president's popularity in mitt romney's home state may be enough. just maybe enough to tip the scales. let's go to indiana. the race between republican richard murdoch and democrat representative joe donnelly seemed like it was going to the gop until this happened. >> life is a gift from god and even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that god

intended to happen. >> well, you know mourdock's abortion comments sparked national outrage and a new poll out says it may cost mimsome support because donnelly now has a double-digit lead over him in the republican-leaning state, actual actually. let's go to pennsylvania where bob casey found the need to campaign a little harder. tom smith started closing the gap against the democratic incumbent and the national republican senatorial committee just dumped $500,000 into the campaign. tommy versus tammy. tommy thompson is neck and neck with tammy baldwin. paul ryan state is democratic and baldwin's lead is within the margin of error. in missouri, republican todd

aiken is staying in the senate race. his campaign was thought to be doomed after he made the comments about pregnancies that result from rape. >> it seem toz me, first of all, from what i understand from doctors, that is really rare. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> now, republican leaders, everyone from mitt romney and all the establishment pretty much urged akin to drop out. he refused. he's hoping to take the seat held by clare mccaskill. the polls show him leading on her and a last-minute of cash infusion for his campaign. a lot of races to watch very closely and you can believe we'll be doing that right here for you. men and women dressed in camouflage in an area that looks like a war zone. this is not overseas, folks, this is new jersey looking for survivors left behind in the rubble by sandy. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about your old 401(k).

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it is 6:29 here in the east. that makes it 3:29 out west. they do not call this "early start" for nothing. welcome back. i'm victor blackwell. >> i'm randi kaye. thank you for starting your day with us, nice and early. we are in the home stretch, just three days left until the election and in the final weekend of campaigning, predz obama and mitt romney are

hitting the trails hard in those pivotal battleground states. romney speaking a couple hours from now in port smith, new hampshire. as you head to the polls, you may see officials from the justice department. 780 federal monitors are being dispatched to enforce laws. the group in 51 jurisdictions and 23 states on tuesday. if you want to file a voting rights complaint, you can contact your local attorney general's office. we got the final employment report and results were mixed. 171,000 jobs added in the month of october. but, the unemployment rate ticked up marginally to 7.9%. in a tight presidential race, the candidates each gave their own take. governor romney called the numbers, a "sad reminder of the state of our economy." president obama said we had, "made real progress, but still have further to go." there are reports now that at least 22 million gallons of gas are headed to the northeast

to help relieve shortages following superstorm sandy. it's made for some long lines as residents wait hours to gas up their cars and get fuel for generators to cut down on wait times, 12 new jersey counties will go to a rationing system. that starts at noon today. on odd number days only customers whose license plates end in an odd number can buy gas and same goes for the even days. new york mayor michael bloomberg has canceled the new york marathon for the first time in 42 years. people were outraged by his earlier decision to go on. he said in a statement that the race had become controversial and divisive. and people on the new jersey shore certainly need some support. john sady lives along the shore and he shot this cell phone video of the aftermath. take a look. >> that's the boardwalk two blocks in on central avenue.

and that's where the boardwalk was on the ocean. >> and john is on the phone with us this morning. he's a business owner in seaside heights, new jersey, and lives in toms river. john, i was in your area this week. i'm so sorry for what you all are dealing with there. are the conditions any better now this morning for you? >> they're mixed. they're mixed. we are really happy with the response from the governor with the electoral department. we had people from alabama, atlanta, three tractor trailer loads, telephone polls went over thursday. that response has been outstanding. however, it's been a little slow, i would say, in the search for door-to-door to help some of these people. that has been a little bit embarrassing to the government. >> right after the storm actually happened, though, and came through there. you took in five local families. a lot of people had no where to go. where are those people now? are they still with you and what made you decide to take them in?

>> they're going to be with me a long time. there is no where for them to go. these are the volunteer firemen from seaside heights. we have a police officer and some other emergency personnel. they literally have no place to go. >> i was up there and i'm curious because i did this boat tour and i took a look to try to find some of this natural gas that, as you know, was spewing from the system there. i know it was, you were spelling it in your area. where i was in manalokin they shut that down. >> it was really money versus lives. it turns out that sea water would have seeped into the system and the whole main line would have been replaced which would have taken six, seven, eight months and $100 million.

the governor, again, shut the system down, the main line down. however, that caused an enormous amount of problems. no one in the houses that are okay have no heat. i mean, just one disaster is going to turn into another. >> like 28,000 people, from what i understand, without access to natural gas. do you think they were putting lives at risk, though? i know this was their last resort in order to shut the system down, but you think they were trying to hold on to the system and try not to shut it down? >> no. in my opinion, they had to weigh that cost versus a life of a fireman and, in new jersey, in my opinion, we weigh life by how much you make in new jersey. that comes down in the court system. your income of what you're worth when you die. >> i want to ask you about this popular nightclub along the shore, the bamboo bar, it is a favorite of the mtv cast "jersey

shore." how is the bar doing? >> bamboo bar, we have two clubs, are both fairly well. i would be able to get back up and operating within a month. however with no utility, no water and no gas. and it's government regulation. forget it. if anybody had to deal with the dep and the building departments of new jersey, it takes you two ye years. all the wealthy people i know are going to take their money and run. >> listen, i hope things do improve for you there. it is really a terrible situation and just so difficult getting around and surviving day-to-day. john saaddy, thank you very much. >> you're welcome. i know this sounds like a stretch, but stay with me here. what does the hit tv show "breaking bad" about a family running the meth lab have in

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good morning, washington. take a look there. you have to take a look at this. get in front of your tv and look at that capital building right there. just beautiful, busy day. busy week certainly ahead in washington. so, let's get back to politics now and the final rush to election day. a state that we weren't paying much attention to is now back in the spotlight. we're talking about pennsylvania. mitt romney and paul ryan will be there this weekend. jill biden and joe biden will make stops for president obama, not to mention all the money being spent on a last-minute

blitz. the latest poll out of pennsylvania shows a tight race. three points within the margin of error, but can romney win it. john mccain made a final push like this on the sunday before the election in 2008 and he lost. the same plan and same result for george w. bush in 2004 and bob dole in 1996. let's check out florida and that's where we find, long, long lines. some people waited in line as long as five hours to cast their early vote. today is the last day for early voting. we'll take you live to florida next hour. how close is the race there? take a look. this poll shows president obama with a slim slelead, 49-47. both campaigns are finding some talking points to drive home their closing arguments. here it is. unemployment ticked up to 7.9% while the economy added 171,000

jobs in october. that's more than most expected. earlier, i spoke with bill gross who runs the world's biggest mutual fund pinco if these numbers are enough to move voters and the markets. >> i'm not sure it is, victor. actually, the election may hinge on the length of gas lines in new jersey and new york on monday as opposed to the number of jobs announced on friday. in any case, the job creation number is sufficient going forward to certainly level the unemployment rate and, ultimately, over time, to produce a lower unemployment rate. it's a positive for the democrats and the obama administration, at least short term. we know that the election is about the economy. it is about, you know, two different visions in terms of an obama plan that basically suggests raising taxes on the wealthy, you know, to lower the

deficit and romney plan that suggests tax reform that ultimately will produce higher growth. you know, i'm not so sure that either one of those have been detailed specifically so that voters understand, but, nonetheless, that's what tuesday is all about. >> earlier this week, bill, you spoke to cnbc and you sounded a litt little, let's say, jaded about the election. let's listen to what you said and then we'll talk about it on the other side. >> we spent $5 billion on this election for what? to prove that it's a government of the superpac by the superpac for the superpac to prove that basically who wins at this point we'll be at four years in the future. but let's look to something different as opposed to this red and blue state theology that is basically the same. >> does the matter which candidates wins then or do you think we're headed for a fiscal cliff off this fiscal cliff either way? >> well, i think so. and i do think, although there

are differences between romney and obama in terms of their policies, i do think both of them, you know, are subject to, as i mentioned, superpac to the best government that money can buy. going forward we should examine something different from the standpoint of policies and standpoint of government that allows u.s. voters a significant choice. >> i want to talk about this really interesting op-ed you wrote for the "washington post." you compared the u.s. debt crisis to crystal meth addiction. you said, "hooked on the temporary high of tax cuts and increased entitlements over the past several decades, the nation's capital is approaching the end of the line traveled by most addicts, reform or suffer the consequences." explain this. is this part of the new normal that you predicted after the '08 financial crisis? >> it is. it suggests that the u.s. faces

a, you know, fiscal cliff decision over the next few months that is $1 billion to $2 billion deep. but a grand canyon over the nextnext few years that is over $1 trillion wide. our cbo, our congressional budget office have conservatively estimated that the gap of gdp which is an amount totaling $1.2 trillion that has to be closed over the next few years. either via higher taxes or lower expenditures going forward to keep our debt from escalating into the spanish and italian and greek area that, you know, is reminiscent of crystal meth and addiction. >> bill gross, pimco founder, thank you very much. >> you're welcome. five days after sandy slammed into the northeast and some people still cannot get into their homes. >> with mountains of sand, houses ripped apart and gas leaks, some areas look like, really, war zones.

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bruce springsteen, billy joel, aerosmith, christina aguilera, mary j. blige showed up last night to help raise money for victims of superstorm sandy. the concert aired live and we don't know yet how much money was raised for the red cross relief efforts, but cnn is also extending a hand to the survivors of sandy. visit cnn.com/impactyourworld to learn more. well, as the day breaks, the search for survivors and victims

of superstorm sandy will continue. >> so far we know that that 900-mile storm has killed at least 106 people in the u.s. cnn jim clancy followed the national guard as they went door-to-door in a search and discovery mission in new jersey. >> reporter: a sometimes forceful systematic search for survivors. dozens of members of the u.s. army and air force national guard joined members of the ocean county prosecutor's office to probe seemingly abandoned homes on long beach island's whole gate community. in distress situations they forcibly opened homes to call out for survivors. the prosecutors are on hand because they have jurisdiction if any bodies are uncovered. but in most cases, it was a straight forward call to ask if anyone was inside. >> national guard. >> this part of the mission is search and rescue.

pretty much nobody has been here. so what we've been doing is trying to see if any residents that had stayed over during the hurricane survived. that's basically what we're looking for here, any survivors. >> reporter: homes already ripped open by superstorm sandy were searched inside and out while these guard teams from new jersey kept a sharp lookout for signs of life anywhere around a home, trying to ensure no one would be overlooked. devastating waves broke on these beaches, ripping away huge amounts of sand that was then carried across the island, leaving two or three-story homes perched dangerously their now shallow pilings. today some of those dunes are six-feet high making road access impossible, not waiting for those road to be cleared, the coast guard joined in the search and rescue mission to the far southern end of the island. their work almost done, the search teams mark each house and

each street with red tape to document which homes have been checked. they found some residents, but none wanting to leave. like carl clark, who road out the storm and still refuses to leave, but thinks it's a good idea to keep the island closed for now. >> that is a good thing, in my opinion. you know, we have to restore this infrastructure. we can't bring anybody back yet. i'll stay here and look after our home and our neighbor's home and watch out for, you know, looting. anybody that doesn't belong here. >> reporter: carl and the residents not on the island can rest assured that 100 plus national guard troops marching through freshly plowed sand drifts are also on the lookout for everyone. >> jim clancy joins us live now and carl clarke and his decision to stay back, he's now seen what has happened to this town. what did you learn from him about moving forward and all the work that it will take to rebuild this area of long

island? >> well, you know, there's a tremendous amount of instruture because carl says if i leave, i can't get back. like many residents, he's worried about his stuff, his place. he loves it out on the island, as so many people who live here year round do. there is a sense among them, all right, we'll give the city a chance. a guy trying to get out of to the island, the police turned him around and he didn't have permission to be out here. probably a resident to check on his home, probably next wednesday they'll be able to do that. by keeping everybody off the island, they're earth movers pushing the sand off the roads that you saw there in that report. there's drifts six feet high in some places. it's impossible for people to travel in some places. so, give them a chance to go in and to work on the inf infrastructure and check the gas lines and electoral lines and

determine which homes may have to come down because they're so dangerously damaged by this superstorm. there's a lot of work to be done. it will take several days. they think if we can do it up front and keep everybody off the island, that's going to be better for everyone. but, you know what, i mean, obviously, a lot of people that say, no, my house, i want to be there. there's a debate, no doubt about it. >> so much work to do. jim clancy, thank you so much. now, for more information about sandy and what you can do to help those affected check out cnn.com/impact. three days and counting until election day and we are covering all the battlegrounds for you. next hour, we'll take you to three of those battlegrounds. ohio, pennsylvania and wisconsin. we'll see the strategy on both sides as each side looks for an advantage. the only time i've ever had a break is when i was on maternity leave. i have retired from doing this one thing that i loved.

now, i'm going to be able to have the time to explore something different. it's like another chapter.

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well, new york city has a new tourist attraction. >> of sorts. a remnant of superstorm sandy is still dangling high over the city and crowds are lining up to see it. here is cnn's jeanne moos. >> reporter: there's a new addition to new york's skyline, making it hard to resist looking up. >> that's insane. >> it's amazing it hasn't fallen down yet. >> it seems to just be dangling in the wind. >> reporter: the crane that has pedestrians craning their necks was caught on camera during its partial collapse hanging over manhattan's 57th street. it had newscasters riveted. >> it's so eerie that this is happening. >> they are afraid when that crane goes, it could be bouncing off of other buildings around here. >> reporter: destined to be the tallest residential apartment building in new york city, with

$90 million penthouses, it now has the infamy. police have closed off the street below when engineers figure out when the weather makes it safe to strap the boom to the building. cathy and her husband were across the street from the crane. >> i was telling my mom i was safe and i heard the crane go over. i heard, crunch. >> reporter: the steps were evacuated to another hotel. donald trump has a view of the crane out his window. he's even with it, but he told cnbc, it was left at too upright an angle. >> they didn't die it down. >> they're not supposed to be tethered. that's quite the contrary. >> somebody made a big mistake. >> it's conceivable that nobody did anything wrong, just a strong gust of wind. >> reporter: a swaying mass of

metal that has a tabloid nickname, jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> everybody is taking pictures and there's traffic everywhere. >> i'm sure it has a twitter handle somewhere. >> if they haven't, it's happening. thanks for starting your morning with us. >> we have much more ahead on "cnn saturday morning" which starts right now. good morning, everyone. i'm randi kaye. >> i'm victor blackwell. thank you for being with us this morning. we are following the final stretch to the run for the white house. so, let's talk about that final stretch. three days left until election day and that